Waning moon
by Mistycandles
Summary: In the aftermath of the war, Allen is faced with a difficult choice. To save his life he must plunge deep into the secrets of the Noah clan long forgotten even by the Bookmen. Eventual Tyki x Allen.
1. Full Moon Chapter one

Author's notes: I'm not sure what possessed me to write this. I was listening to _Everything you want_ by Vertical Horizon and let myself write. This story will eventually be Tyki x Allen and based on Au concepts of what I envision the aftermath of the war will be like. If you're reading this thank you for taking the time to read it. Allen is seventeen at this story's beginning – roughly two years since the war had ended.

If anyone would be willing to beta this chapter and the following chapters I'd be very gratefull. Thank you for your time and enjoy the fic.

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It was colder than he expected it to be. Allen guessed that was what death really was. Yet there was a rising tide of _something_ that filled his soul like a torch bearing the light into the dark passages. With it came a song so beautiful it brought tears to his eyes even as it filled him with the kind of dread he'd never felt before. It wove through his failing body and set to restoring it with the strange unearthly power he didn't understand.

That's when he felt the warmth of someone holding his head in their hands, their thumbs brushing over his shut eyelids. "It's not so bad to take this road. Do you really have any other way to go?" He shifted in those hands and sucked in a breath. His lungs tried to give up as he struggled with the icy claws seeking to drag him down into the swirling frozen world he'd never return from. Not in this life at least.

What did he have to lose? He'd fought the Earl and learned he'd been using the Noah for so long – to sacrifice them to God. The 14th had learned the truth and attacked out of desperation. Part of him argued to give in would mean losing everything he'd ever worked for. The other side of him felt differently. It was time the Left hand of God was handed to another person to bear.

If he died it would be lost again. It was his duty to see it returned to the Order. If that cost him his life so be it. As if that decision had been all it needed the song pushed forward into his heart, filling it with that power that brought with it memories of a life that wasn't his.

_All I ask of you is to give me my due and strike down the Earl with your hands. Don't let the task fall to another. Then return me to my brother, let us be together after so long. _The voice retreated after it spoke and Allen said nothing in reply. He would honor that request. Part of it had already been fulfilled. Crowned clown tumbled out of his hand at that moment – the green glow casting its own light he could see despite being unconscious.

_You served me well, Allen. I can only hope my next bearer will have half of your strength. I wish you luck where ever you go. _He felt an ache in his heart as the presence he'd lived with for all of his life withdrew and left him truly alone. Maybe he cried in loss. The hands had brushed his cheeks as if wiping away tears. The song continued on and on in his heart. It slowly spread out into his arms, down through his chest, and past that to his toes.

He felt like he _was_ the music by now. Nothing in this world can be had without pain, Cross had once said. Bone breaking agony came so quickly Allen wondered if it had always hurt like this. Maybe he'd been blind it while the music wove its spell. Fragments of other times drifted through his mind like falling leaves that only increased in number with each minute that passed.

Time seemed to have held still so he could see what seemed to be a dream of what the world would have looked like had the Earl succeeded. The ground was white beneath his feet, but it wasn't snow he was trudging on. He had a sickening feeling he knew what it was. Something crunched under his feet that confirmed his suspicions and he dogged on to pretend he hadn't heard it.

Water rushed by in thin rivets that quickly grew into streams then gave way to rivers. He walked through it. The crimson color that stained his pant legs made him want to scream. Would anyone hear him in this bleak landscape? Would they care? Ruined buildings lay on their sides, bits of stone and glass spilled out around them. They looked like the beached bones of some animal - stripped of flesh and inner workings by the harsh light of the sun.

Something bumped into his thigh as he knelt to check the strange thing he'd seen dip beneath the surface. He knew it was stupid but he plunged his hand in to search for it. A hand closed around his wrist and with it came the pain of someone who had been burned as a witch. As if that were a sign, thousands of hands grabbed whatever they could reach, their agony rolling through him until he was sinking to his knees.

His world became their ghostly pain, echoed and rebounded over and over until he was shaking with it. He sucked in a breath but it came out as a choked sob. Allen couldn't hold back his revulsion that anyone could harm people this way. It was too much. How could he bear all of this? But he had to. More latched on with each passing second before it was too much to stay silent. He screamed and writhed in their hands, his voice cutting through the silence.

Yet through it all he couldn't hate them for showing him these horrible things. He couldn't hate their tormentors. Like the Akuma - they were such lamentable beings. He wondered if they were the Noah that had come before the current group. The answer eluded him even as he arched his body with his arms flung out to his sides as he gasped. "No matter how many of you give me your pain - I will still love you!"

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there to protect you. I'm sorry no one understood you. But I can never hate you." His voice gave out and they drew away like the sea receding from the shore. He crashed face first into the water as his legs crumpled beneath him. Allen realized he was alone again, with the pain of countless people flowing through his veins like chains he could never break. He didn't want to. To shatter the bonds would give those people back their agony. This was a burden he could and would bear so those poor souls wouldn't have to. It felt like an age before he climbed to his feet, his knees wobbling as he took a shaky step forward. As long as he could keep walking he knew he'd be alright.

So he went on into the twisted landscape full of the dead that gave him their pain to take with him. He nearly lost it when he came upon the remains of the Order tower. Departed Finders touched him as if he was the savior that had come at last. Skeletons clothed in the garb of Exorcists brushed his shoulders like comrades passing by in the halls.

_Remember us, _they whispered. The Vatican's vault of secrets burst open like a festering wound being drained of its poison. He learned the names of souls that couldn't avenge themselves. _You gave our deaths meaning, _They told him and he couldn't find the point in why they had to die. He moved through the endless stream like a bird seeking its wings until he came upon a man standing on a boat with his dark hat set slightly askew.

He bore a torch in his left hand and a sword in his right with Maria standing beside him. It was oddly poetic for a man he knew to be made of mystery and infuriating as they came. "Master." He said, his feet slowing but never ceasing their procession through this strange place. "Brat," Cross answered as he sheathed the blade to steer the boat with a long pole that looked like a staff.

"Why are you here?" The man ignored the question for a moment as he smacked a passing skeleton when it tried to touch him. "Why are _you,_ here?" Allen blinked at the question and stared straight ahead into the distance. "I don't know." He let out a yelp as the wooden staff came down on his back rather harshly. "Hey-" "Idiot apprentice!"

He was pretty sure his ears were ringing after the third whack. " Stop that! What the bloody hell did I do-" The General's expression made him freeze in his tracks. The only time he'd seen that look was the time someone suggested Cross kept Maria for 'other' reasons. Last he recalled, that pub had been raining down in fine pieces a few minutes later. "…Master?" "If you came here just because, I will put you out of your misery right now."

"No! Where _is_ here?!" He swallowed under the unwavering stare of his master until Cross drew away and pushed the staff into the water to keep the boat moving. "You listened to him." It wasn't a question, merely a statement. Yet Allen felt pressured to answer it regardless. "Yes," "Good." They moved through the barren and dismal world in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. "Took you fucking long enough."

"Can you ever say anything _pleasant_ without following it up with an insult?!" Cross lit a cigarette in reply and lazily blew out a puff of smoke. "No." Allen huffed and trudged on with a growl. "You're such an arse!" So they moved on, past the Asian branch and through the cities he had known all his life. The dead only touched Allen from that point on. The further they went the stronger his love for the people that gave him their pain became.

He was afraid he might burst from it all. When they reached the edge of a waterfall, Cross stepped from the boat into the waters right beside him. He almost looked sad to Allen. He turned to ask him what he was doing when Maria's hand closed about his wrist. He gasped mostly in shock – her hand already letting him go. His master strode forward as proud and strong as he remembered and set his hands on his shoulders. "They're waiting for you. Get going and don't stop walking." Before he could ask the question burning a hole in the back of his mind he was hurled over the edge.

The wind rushed past him as the figure of his master rapidly grew smaller and smaller the farther he tumbled through the air. If he'd have been paying attention he'd have noticed the world was getting darker, all of the light draining away like grains of sand. But his mind was full of questions that the further he had trudged through this land refused to leave him. Was this really the world the Earl had envisioned?

He still didn't have any answers when he slammed back first into a sand dune. _If that's what you thought it was, you're a stupid child. _Allen felt insulted as he pushed his way to his feet. "I'm not stupid!" _Then think back, look at all of those you encountered. What did they all have in common?_ He didn't even need to think on that one. "They're…" The rotting corpse of the Earl burst from the ground and grabbed his arm before he could finish his sentence.

"Dead~" It sang before he fell down beside it. His body felt like it was on fire with a kind of pain he never expected to feel. He lay there gasping and sucking in dry air until shadows fell over him. _Don't fall here. You've come so far and yet you've barely begun. _He peered up into the gold eyes of the clan of Noah. It was everyone who had ever fallen while holding a memory of Noah starting from the first and ending with the last. Allen shut his eyes as he rose shakily and breathed in – preparing himself for what was to come.

They parted into two lines with a thin strip of sand in-between them at his approach. He started down the line and forced himself to keep walking with each touch that brushed his shoulders and arms. Some of them had been hunted down and slaughtered in groups like live stock. Hewn down daughters had fallen beside their fathers as they reached blindly for a power that consumed them. Others have participated in wars and changed history. No...

They had been thwarted by those clad in black that raised their holy weapons high like royal standards in the name of God. He felt guilty as the Noah touched him as if he was family. Exorcists like he'd been had hurt them. Even if it was necessary to save the world, he hated to see anyone die for it. The slim hands touching him felt familiar and he peered up into a face that reminded him strongly of Mana.

_My brother raised a fine boy, _The fourteenth said in a voice that was youthful despite the weight of years that gave him wrinkles at the edges of his eyes. _I'm proud to call you my nephew. _Skin shoved him forward as Lulubell disdainfully gripped his wrist in a punishing grip. _You took down my lord, family or no I do not love you at all. _Finally he stood before the shadow of the last man. He nearly fell to his knees but the man grabbed his arm to keep him from falling.

_Remember this, remember that God can cast some of the faithful aside if he so pleases. It is up to us to choose our fates. It is up to humans to make a difference in their world. Never forgive him, for tossing us aside. _"I will always forgive." He answered as that strange song wove through the dark landscape like a torch – giving light to the darkness. "That 's my way...the path I've chosen." The man shook his head and stepped away from him. His expression was neither kind nor scornful. _After all of the sorrows and pain you've experienced you still have the ability to forgive and love? There were others like you and you saw what happened to them._

He heard the music pass down the line like an arrow streaking at his target and shut his eyes. "I'm fine with that. Didn't you say we choose our fates?" The music struck him full in the chest before the pain burst into one roaring crescendo that carried him up through this strange world into reality again.

He shot bolt upright and gasped while sweat trickled down his brow. He could only hear the pounding of his own heart at first. Slowly little by little the sounds of life from the rain hammering against the roof and the crackle of a fire in the room filtered through. Allen gripped the wool blankets draped over his legs - trying to will his heart to stop beating as quickly as a frightened rabbit.

The pain he'd carried through that world seemed centered in his forehead, his hands inspected it curiously. Only to be slapped away by much larger hands that grabbed his and pulled them away from what he suspected was there. "_Stop_. Let them heal over, lad. You'll regret it if you don't." Tyki frowned at him, his cigarette gripped in his surprisingly white teeth. Wisps of smoke escaped his lips as he leaned forward into Allen's space to check him over. "It's been a while since anyone bled from the other points."

The remark drew Allen's gaze downwards to his hands. They were already covered by pale linen bandages but, there was old blood on the sheets - the stains a dark dusty red. "What does that mean?" The Noah paused while he soaked a cloth and wrung it out. "You didn't restrain or fight it when it came for you?" It took him a moment to think about it and he shook his head wearily.

"Should I have?" He inhaled deeply as the cool damp cloth was used to clean his aching forehead. "It's different from person to the person. Some don't make it this far." The bandages were wound around his head before he was gently pushed to lie down. "Get some sleep; we have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow." Allen opened his mouth to ask a question but Tyki shushed him. "Later. Boy, swallow that stubborn pride for a little while and do as your elders tell you."

He wanted to argue with him but he was too tired to do more than growl in reply. He watched him walk away to tend the fire and noted something strange. The colors of the world were sharper than he remembered as if he'd been living in a dull nearly colorless place since the day he was born. What caused that? Why was everything louder and the smells stronger? He shut his eyes and let sleep take him down into the world of dreams. He'd find out later wouldn't he?


	2. Waning Gibbous Chapter two

Author's notes: I want to thank my beta for doing such a wonderful job betaing the first chapter and this one. I also want to thank you the readers, I didn't expect there to be so many! I don't have a lot to say about this chapter but, I wanted to give you an impression for how Tyki feels about things and how long he's been in this particular town.

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Of all things, Tyki hadn't expected to find a dying Allen Walker in an alleyway, shivering as if it were winter and rapidly losing the battle for his own life. It had been the capper to a terrible day, and had the boy died, probably the notch on his wall for another week of hell. If he had been smart he'd have left Allen in that alleyway, but the boy had saved his life a few times, during the war and after it. If there was one thing he refused to do, it was leave his debts unpaid.

That had been yesterday. Today, he stood over the cast iron stove, balancing a skillet on the burner and using a wooden spoon to maneuver a pair of eggs around. Tyki counted himself lucky he was living on the edge of town where all of the farmers lived. He did hard labor for them and in return he ate better than he did in most places. They let him live in a small house just off the edge of their fields. It was temporary work. Good work always was. Ah well, it wasn't any skin off his nose.

While he didn't mind the day to day grind of society, the Vatican made it difficult to find a place to settle down. He couldn't count how many times he'd had to leave a town or city he'd found that might have lasted him a while before wanderlust urged him to move on. The Church was everywhere, like a disease that had infested all of the vital organs but hadn't built to a life threatening level yet.

It had been this way for little over a century. Complaining about the issue now when he hadn't been alive to try to thwart their advance was a wasted effort and he knew it. It would never change how frustrated he could get about it, and that was the problem. He didn't have Cyril's education (nor did he want it) and he wasn't like Road, who could step into her dreams, effectively escaping each and every time. Tyki got by on the strength of his back and what work he could find in the world that was the same as it always was. There was nothing wrong with that.

But only if you ignored the war, for the sake of humanity's very survival that had happened only a handful of years past hidden in the secret chapters of history. He was still bitter about how little had changed but, Lavi had told him last time they ran into each other, 'Don't expect much to change, the hidden history only changes our overall course, not the whole damn world'. He'd been right (damn him), but that didn't mean the Noah had to like it. His only comfort was that several Exorcists had died in comparison to two of the clan. But even that was starting to lack venom to it.

It was another wasted effort he didn't feel like bothering about. He transferred the cooked eggs onto a plate on top of the slices of bread he'd toasted with the generous slices of mushroom and tomato making a cushion for them. He should probably eat it too, but no, it was for his brand new trouble. Tyki carried it out of the kitchen into the small bedroom. The fire had died down during the night, leaving behind bare embers to light the room. He took a moment to stir the fire back up before he proceeded over to the bed. It didn't matter that he'd changed the sheets last night - the coppery scent of blood permeated the room. Tyki frowned while he set the plate on the nightstand. Allen had bled as much as some of the earlier Noah had, it was possible… "Damn it, I liked this mattress."

Speaking of the boy, his eyes drifted over Allen as he slept. His hair had been stripped of the tiny remains of color it had left and now grew long enough to reach past his shoulder blades. It was a surprise to see Allen's skin was the same color as his, the rich tan standing out on the sheets.

Tyki lightly shook the boy with one hand on his shoulder. "Oi, cheating boy. It's morning."

The boy gave a grunt and curled up, his head disappearing under the sheets. Some days he really hated kids, they were stubborn things that didn't want to do as they were told. "Walker!"

He growled as he seized a handful of the sheets and yanked them off the bed. To his credit, Allen didn't do much more than sleepily glare at him. "What do you want?"

The boy's voice was slurred with sleep but thankfully was still understandable. The elder Noah pointed at the still steaming plate of breakfast. "Eat, then we'll talk."

He didn't even need to say a word; Allen had snatched the plate up before he'd even finished his sentence. It was like watching a wolf tear out the throat of a sheep, quick and very violent. Of course it could be blamed on blood loss and the high energy demands of crossing over, but Tyki was willing to bet it had other factors involved. The food was a mere memory moments later while Allen licked the tip of a finger to get the last smidgen of food left.

"That was really good! Who made it?"

He carefully set the plate back where it had been and took advantage of the sudden silence to stretch his arms over his head. "I did but, that's not  
important right now, boy. For the next few days we'll be staying here until your body settles."

Tyki lit a cigarette with a quick flick of a match before he continued on like a teacher giving a lesson or a warning. "Don't go out of this house; stay back here if I tell you to."

His command was met with a raised eyebrow along with a very confused expression from his charge. He ran a hand through his hair and tapped the wall with his knuckles. "If you're seen, we'll have to leave immediately. Don't ask why, you know why."

Allen shut his mouth in mid-question, his expression shifting from confused to thoughtful. Tyki sighed as he reached out and ruffled Allen's hair. He didn't say anything else before he rose to collect the plate.

"Tyki?"

He paused at the soft question to look over at him. "Yeah?"

Allen studied the bedsheets to avoid looking into his eyes. "You said we had a lot of ground to cover before."

A shadow passed over the elder Noah's face before he sat right back down. "Don't you want to wake up first? This will take a while and it's a pain in the ass to repeat it."

The boy blinked then sat back a little. He wasn't sure if he wanted to wait until the fog of drowsiness lifted. It seemed important to hear what Tyki had promised him last night. Or had it been yesterday morning? His sense of time had become skewed during his crossing over. His silence seemed like an answer to Tyki. He ran a hand through his dark curly hair and got up again. "Come into the kitchen when you've made up your mind."

Before anything else could be said he left the room, the door gently shut behind him. Allen sat on the bed and stared at his bandaged hands. He couldn't believe how dark his skin was or how everything had shifted. His new senses were almost difficult to handle due to the unfamiliarity of their strength. He took a cautious sniff, but couldn't sort out everything his nose told him. Not yet. It was all too new still.

It didn't help that he still felt exhausted. The logical decision would be to lie back down but Allen hadn't ever been one for logic. Not when he could push his body to the limits and keep going. It was easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission someone had once told him (he assumed it was Cross due to the nature of the advice). He slipped out of bed cautiously, his toes touching the hardwood floor before he allowed the rest of him to follow. Unfortunately, his body was all for being practical and logical today. His knees buckled the moment he put his weight on his legs and he was sent crashing to the floor.

At the last minute he seized a handful of sheets but that did him little good. Stars exploded across his vision when his chin made contact with the  
floor. Allen was no stranger to pain but it was pretty embarrassing that his first attempt to stand had ended in disaster; the heavy sound of footfalls  
alerted him just how loud that had been. Tyki opened the door and looked at him with an expression that he could swear was almost amused. "I forgot to mention with the amount of blood you lost, you might want to stay in bed a little longer."

One gray eye glared at him from under long white bangs as Allen hissed in pain. "You're an arse."

He was still glaring at Tyki even when he was helped back into bed. His bandages were inspected once he settled. "It got my point across. You're too weak to worry about the bigger picture right now."

The older Noah left the room long enough to get bandages and a bowl of warm water. He set the bowl down on the nightstand but didn't do anything further with it until he started to unwind the boy's bandages. They fell in a pile on the floor, the dark almost brown stains a testament to how much Allen had been bleeding. Allen stared at the mess in rapt fascination. There was something about all of the damage that almost impressed him. With Crowned Clown each change had left him feeling renewed, like the aftermath of a spring rain shower. His Noah (he'd never get used to referring to his powers like that) left him feeling drained and ravenously hungry as if he'd emerged from the desert after being lost for a few days.

"How long will it take for me to heal from this?"

Tyki looked up at him when he tentatively asked his question but didn't answer him. It varied for each Noah how long they took to recover. Some  
memories were stronger than others - seeming to reach through time for the sake of continuing the desires of Noah himself. "It depends, you might recover pretty quickly or you might not."

The answer didn't satisfy the boy at all, but the older Noah didn't seem to be very forth coming in his replies right now. Was there really that much to talk about that he wanted to do it later? He didn't ask anything else, even when Tyki winced at the scabbed cross on his throat. As if his previous  
question had been the last drops of strength, he suddenly felt tired again. The fresh bandages felt snug against his wounds and when he reached up to tug at them his hands were batted away. "Stop that."

"But they're too snug, Tyki."

He smiled in reply to the measured stare directed his way; he wasn't trying to be difficult it just happened to turn out that way. The bandages were  
readjusted until Allen didn't complain (they only needed to be readjusted once) before he finally admitted he needed rest. "You promise you'll tell me everything when I get up?"

Tyki paused while he was gathering the sheets and blankets up to dump over him. "...Do I need to repeat myself, lad?"

The boy frowned at the answer as he lay down. "I'd rather know what I'm getting into as soon as possible than rest up not knowing."

His displeasure was enough to make the other bend just a little in his resolution to make him heal first. "...If you're feeling up to it, I will."

To look like he wasn't giving in, he pulled the sheets over him. The spare blankets he'd collected from his bedroom were spread over him, their earthen colors making Allen's changes seem less unusual and more like he'd been that way all his life. There was no Earl to wish the boy Happy birthday or to take him under his care and coach him in the ways of the Noah. He strongly suspected Allen would have been killed instead, but the past was the past...Even if he was slightly bitter about it (more than a little) there was no helping it. The boy was one of them. He caught himself reaching over to ruffle Allen's hair and let his hand fall to his side despite the drowsy and curious look directed his way. "I won't be far, if you need anything."

"Alright,"

The boy settled in the bed and made himself comfortable as Tyki strode for the door. He paused when he heard him clear his throat. Even slurred slightly with the onset of exhaustion, the polite and rather grateful tone was pretty clear in Allen's voice, "And Tyki, thank you."

Tyki shrugged his shoulders and lingered in the doorway for a moment. "Think nothing of it."

It didn't seem right to say they were family, yet the bond was unmistakable regardless of how either of them felt about it. He left the room and shut the door behind him. He didn't have to work in the fields today so he could continue with his usual routine. On days off, Tyki would go into town and  
stock up on supplies. The less he had to see of the town the better. He never knew who was in league with the Vatican and willing to turn him in. For the sake of survival he'd become a bit of a hermit.

He gathered up his coat from the chair he'd thrown it over and pulled it on as he strode through the kitchen. Allen would sleep all day and even if he  
didn't...he'd cross that bridge when they came to it. The dark brown coat covered his usual work clothes as he mussed up his hair until it looked far more unkempt than usual. He pulled on a pair of ratty gloves on his way out of the house and locked the door behind him. It never hurt to disguise himself a little and it kept his white side somewhat.

Since the war's end it felt like he lived a gray life. It was a muggy morning in England, almost unnaturally so and he was forced to tie his hair back while he trudged down the dirt road leading into town. He didn't keep a horse or borrow those from the farm. Animals were too much trouble. He walked in silence for most of the way only nodding in greeting to any farmer he passed. Tyki liked this simple life - as much as he once had loved plunging deep into the fray and cutting down his opponents with his Noah power.

He paused at the edge of town, something telling him it wasn't too late to go back and disappear from the world entirely. He'd had this feeling since the Earl had fallen before Exorcists' united attack. Was the cycle really broken? Would the Noah genes continue to awaken within chosen humans or were they the last? It was too early in the morning to worry about this. Allen was a sign of hope for their kind even if Tyki still couldn't believe the boy had crossed over. He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets as he crossed what felt like a border between the world he'd once belonged to and the world that ceased to change no matter who died for it.

It was a small town, with dusty streets and wooden buildings. As far as off the map towns went, it was the same as any other he'd seen in his years of traveling. The people were the same as others as long as he was friendly and showed he was just another guy from the outskirts that made his living ensuring the farmers pulled in their crops on time. For once he belonged, if only for a little while, and he both loved and hated the feeling. The general store was a bit too close to the church in his opinion. As he mounted the steps to the store, he had to keep from glancing over at it and sneering in defiance.

Cyril had once told him that meetings between nations sometimes required religious ceremonies before they could begin. He hadn't understood at the time why his brother had laughed so hard about it. After living in this town for a few months he could understand the urge. Every Sunday he had to sit in that blasted church and act somewhat normal. It was a chore to keep from laughing. He cast one last glance in its direction and missed the priest that peered at him from the window. If he had lingered a moment longer he'd have seen the recognition in the man's wide eyes.

Mark; the shop owner smiled at him as he came in. "Hey, Raul I didn't think I'd catch you this week!"

"Eh, ya know us farm hands. We have ta make sure we're all stocked up before harvest season is over."

He scratched at his face and laughed a little at that. He'd been here so often since he'd come to this town that there was a list of things already  
packed and waiting for him when he came in on his usual day. "Ya got my supplies all ready? A man needs to keep from spendin' more than he has ta."

Mark chuckled as he set a bound sack on the counter and a few parcels. The paper wrapped parcels were unusual but Tyki figured he'd explain the reason for them soon enough. The man didn't disappoint him. "I know you've only been here so long, but winters are tough out here, especially on your folk way out there far from town. I made sure to include some blankets and winter gear in your usual order."

He smiled again, setting one more parcel on the stack. "Free of charge this time, next time you'll have to pay. You're settling in our little humble town right?"

This was the hard part, he couldn't stay. He was born to wander in his opinion. Even so, the Vatican was going to hound his every step until he was  
dead. That wasn't a pleasant thought. He shrugged in a good natured way as he rubbed the back of his neck and sighs. "Ya caught me at a confusin' time. I'm not sure what I'll do. I do need ta double my order this time. Picked up some wounded kid, couldn't go leavin' him out in the cold."

The other man blinked before his eyes went wide. "A boy? Have you brought him to the town doc? How bad off is the lad?"

He scrambled to grab the extra supplies as he fired question after question at Tyki. "Raul, you can't just go picking up a kid and not tell anyone! We  
take care of any way ward stranger, you know! If you need any help we're always willing to lend you a hand with him."

He hadn't expected that sort of answer but it made sense in this area. The town was friendly to anyone who dropped by. It wasn't a far fetched idea that he'd have all the help he needed until Allen was able to travel. Whether that bought them enough time to be two steps ahead of the Vatican remained to be seen. "Thanks, I'll let ya know if I ever get in over my head."

In the Church the priest had stole to one of the phones. There was static on the other end before a soft voice spoke up. "Hello?"

He looked around nervously as sweat slipped down through his pale blonde hair. He'd been a Broker long ago, when the war had been going on. He knew who he'd seen enter the store. It had been sheer luck to realize who it was. The great Lord Tyki Mikk, it was a rare find that would ensure the Vatican didn't hang him. "Y-yes, I've found sighting of one of the Noah. L- I mean Tyki Mikk. They say he lives with the farmers on the edge of town."

The voice said nothing for a few moments before it spoke again. "Are you absolutely sure? It could be no one else?"

The priest looked towards the window where Tyki was leaving the store with a lazy whistle and all the supplies he needed. How careful the Noah seemed to be to the Broker. All of the Earl's supporters had suffered yet they roamed freely with their lives intact. "Yes, it could be no one else."

"We'll take care of it then. You've done the right thing. Monsters like that have no place in our world."


End file.
